The Hero’s Journey

Identity reformation, the process which answers the eternal question of purpose in this world, of how each of us defines our own meaning in life, is a solution for many of society’s manifestations of mental illness, substance abuse, and other destructive addictions. Absent an identity, or not living their identity, someone is depressed or manifests hate and near-constant anxiety into the world, and does not believe in themselves, wasting their potential. With an identity, someone believes in their Self and manifests love and creative energy, which is transformative in its real-life implications.

The Hero’s Journey is one name for this universal process through which all humans become, achieve our fullest potential by learning to believe our personal stories and is a journey available to everyone, at any point in our lives. We may have gone astray from our personal journeys long ago, leading to a sense in us of lost potential, of wondering what could have been, what we could have accomplished had we only done this instead of that.

This process is one of slowly deconstructing the ego, the thoughts, angry resentments towards others that pop into human minds periodically when you sit in silence. For some, they pop up more often. If, like many, this isn’t you, then sit with your thoughts in silence, do nothing else, for an hour, and see what pops up. Dissolving the ego is to unlock human potential by helping us to channel our energy from that ego, now freed, into any direction we wish.

To the extent that each of our individual lives represents an opportunity to manifest our beings into the world, and because few if any humans in this world understand the true limits of their potential, any one of us 7.5 billion humans may be the world’s savior in disguise. Or, more likely, we all can be. We have only to live our personal truth. The moral of the Hero’s Journey is that we can all become each other’s and the world’s healers if we ourselves start to be healed of our selfish Ego. In healing, we become capable of being a loving parent or partner or friend in ways not possible before, where our lives may affect one or a community or a region or the world. No matter the outcome, the transformations of the Hero actualized into being are equal under the eyes of the universe.

With the implications clear and the relevancy to a great many in our world likely, how do we get started on figuring out our personal story, of becoming whole? Joseph Campbell laid out the formula for finding our Hero’s Journey as succinctly as might be possible: Follow Your Bliss. If you know your heart’s longing, the dream you have most often had but aren’t pursuing right now, that is your answer. If there is a hobby you always wanted to start, a book to write, anything you dreamed of creating; One, two, three, take a leap of faith into uncertainty and give up your cares of whether anyone will like what you do or not—nobody every knows whether anybody will like creative pursuits, you just head into the unknown, alone, pursuing your creative calling.

Does the Hero’s Journey hold any modern relevance? With myths relegated to meaningless bedtime stories, the United States’ divisions have grown ever wider; only Heroes can heal the fissure before it erupts.

Taileaters’ Hero’s Journey Training

If, like many people without meaning in their lives, you still struggle to start following your bliss, Taileaters’ Hero’s Journey Training aims to be a place to begin that Journey again, to get back on the Path of personal revealed meaning and truth. Through an extensive and ongoing project, Taileaters’ Hero’s Journey Training will combine numerous resources, examples, exercises, and real-life activities to help fellow Taileaters find the tangible internal meaning they can actualize into the material world.

By following our Hero’s Journey Course, Taileaters learn to understand symbols from favorite stories and myths in the context of their own story, which supports learning to discover your personal values and interests–which are how we know what to pursue for a purposeful life. Heroes taking the Journey will particularly find value through discussions in some of the more challenging parts of the Hero’s Journey, which deal with the facing and integrating the Shadow, meeting with the feminine/Goddess, and atonement with the Father, which are among the steps where most would be Heroes fall off and revert back to the destructive forms of the Ego.

Taileaters’ Hero’s Journey Training experts are able and willing to work one on one with individuals and with groups to help them understand symbolism and their personal Hero’s Journeys. Our experts have used Jungian psychoanalysis to take learn their Hero’s Journey, helps us more easily recognize signs in the personal Journeys of others. Through helping you tell your story and face the scarier parts inside you with courage, we work through our your knots of personal meaning to help blast off into your next adventure.

In addition to our Hero’s Journey Training, we teach basic holistic body methods to help others take care of their bodies properly and bring out feelings and sensations in the body; plant medicines to cleanse toxins and chemicals keeping people imprisoned in their minds; and spiritual adventures with an expert in a natural to reinforce our training, speed up or cement identity transformation, and help our fellow Taileaters interpret their own Hero’s Journey. As more Taileaters become interested in their Hero’s Journey, moderated discussion groups will connect Taileaters together; sharing, listening to and talking about their Hero’s Journey.

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Andrew Haacke is a lifelong spiritual seeker who researches, writes about, and provides training and experiential learning related to The Hero's Journey, Shamanism, Plant Medicine, and Integrated Body Healing practices. Andrew studied Anthropology at the University of Utah and earned a Master's in Social Work and Master's in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

Andrew Haacke

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